The Moves We Loved for Fantasy This Offseason

Every move an NFL team makes is designed to improve its situation. It’s just that exactly how a situation can improve is different for every team. Sometimes that means a win-now move. Sometimes it means a pivot to greater success later. Sometimes a team improving its situation doesn’t necessarily mean that we as fantasy football managers reap that benefit.

And of course, sometimes a team tries to make itself better and screws it up.

The upshot of all of this is that, even as every team is trying to improve with every move, some moves matter more than others for fantasy.

So today, I’m looking at the moves this offseason that matter the most for fantasy football, the moves that we as fantasy managers can use to have a better fantasy season in 2025. Friday, I’ll be back to look at the worst offseason moves.

Best Offseason Moves for Fantasy Football 2025

Bears Overhaul Offensive Plan

It started with the hiring of former Lions OC Ben Johnson as head coach, of course. But with Johnson came an apparent commitment from the Bears to finally address the offensive line — Chicago traded for Joe Thuney (and extended him) and Jonah Jackson, signed Drew Dalman and spent a second-round pick on Ozzy Trapilo

The draft picks spent on TE Colston Loveland and WR Luther Burden III might muddy the waters a bit as we try to figure out which Bears skill players to target in fantasy drafts, but for Caleb Williams, the arrival of Johnson, reconfiguration of the offensive line and addition of extra weaponry all have the chance to pay massive dividends for the second-year quarterback in fantasy.

Raiders Have a Star Back, Big-Name Leadership

The Raiders had Antonio Pierce at head coach, Aidan O’Connell/Gardner Minshew II at quarterback and a mess of a backfield last year. Now, they have Pete Carroll at the reins, Geno Smith at quarterback and one of the best RB prospects in recent memory in Ashton Jeanty to carry the ball. Jakobi Meyers and (especially) Brock Bowers are the only fantasy names from last year’s roster that we cared about in fantasy, and they are still relevant to us, but now, the team has a quarterback who will at least be relevant in superflex leagues, and Jeanty, working for a run-first coach like Carroll, should be a first-rounder in most fantasy leagues in 2025.

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Pats Give Drake Maye a Chance

It was fun to watch Drake Maye last year, as he showed flashes of potential stardom despite a miserable supporting cast. The Patriots are trying to make it easier on him in 2025, drafting Will Campbell at fourth overall, drafting TreVeyon Henderson to take over the backfield, and bringing in Stefon Diggs (free agency) and Kyle Williams (draft) to build up the receiver room. It’s still nothing like an elite supporting cast, but it went from barely tenable to at least not ruining things for its young quarterback. Maye can now succeed or fail more on his own merits than on whether his supporting case can actually, you know, support.

Bengals Keep the Band Together

Joe Burrow wasn’t going anywhere. Ja’Marr Chase probably wasn’t either. But there was a very real scenario this offseason where the Bengals couldn’t come to a deal with Tee Higgins and decided not to franchise tag him a second time, and Higgins went elsewhere. Instead, he re-upped as well, and the Bengals will roll into 2025 with an offense that rolls through those three yet again. That means last year’s QB3, WR1 and (in points per game) WR6 are still there to try to do it again.

And that’s not all. Because the Bengals entered the offseason desperately needing to overhaul a defense that ranked 27^th in defensive DVOA last year, and … they didn’t, really. At least not enough. The Bengals swapped out Lou Anarumo for Al Golden at DC, but their biggest offseason signing was former Packers DT T.J. Slaton Jr. First-rounder Shemar Stewart and second-rounder Demetrius Knight Jr. will help, but this promises to still be an underwhelming defense. And for fantasy, that should mean continued fireworks on offense.

Liam Coen Takes the Reins in Jacksonville

Extraordinarily awkward “Duuuvaaaal” aside, there’s nothing not to like about the Jaguars landing on Liam Coen as head coach, especially since it was accompanied by the end of the Trent Baalke-as-GM era. Coen helped Baker Mayfield to 41 touchdowns with Tampa last year after never throwing for 28 in a season before. In college, he made Will Levis a second-round pick who flirted with first-round (or even first overall) status. And he was a big part of the rejuvenated Rams offense before that. Trevor Lawrence has mostly failed to launch so far in the NFL despite his much-heralded arrival, but giving him and Brian Thomas Jr. Coen at head coach and the much-ballyhooed Travis Hunter to be the primary WR2 could help him to be the quarterback we originally expected.

Rams, Cowboys Add Big-Name WR2s

The Rams had Cooper Kupp last year, who was still productive when healthy but clearly past his prime. The Cowboys had Brandin Cooks, who … wasn’t productive or healthy. The teams had Puka Nacua and CeeDee Lamb as elite WR1s, but a single strong receiver does not an offense make. The Rams pounced before free agency to grab the released Davante Adams, while the Cowboys waited until the end of most of the big offseason moves to trade for George Pickens from the Steelers.

Adams is better than Pickens, but in both cases, this means the teams have two potentially elite receivers who can help their quarterbacks (Matthew Stafford and Dak Prescott) put up big numbers. And both receivers have quarterbacks (and overall offenses) that can carry them to new heights (in Pickens’ case) or to old heights revisited (in Adams’).